The pH values and macro nutrient contents are characterised by considerable variance within a field. A constant-rate-fertilization, which is practiced at most farms, does not reduce this effect, it may even boost variance. Besides the suboptimal nutrient supply, the site-specific yield potential is not exploited. Constant-rate-fertilization and liming results in an inefficient utilisation by over- and undersupply of most of the areas within a field. Fertilization with lime and phosphorus causes high costs and therefore solution concepts should be adapted continuously to increase efficiency. In this context, high-resolution soil information is essential to develop an ideal fertilization strategy. Results could justify costs for small-scale soil analyses and identify break-even for information acquisition. The analysis, presented in this paper, is based on long-term data within the scope of “on-farm-research”. The constant fertilization strategy reveals a suboptimal application of resources, which generates unnecessary costs and does not exhaust yield potential. However, this does not mean that in the short-term a variable-rate-fertilization is less cost intensive. Though in the long-term view, possibly higher costs are legitimated due to higher yields. After achieving sufficient nutrient contents in undersupplied zones, these costs will no longer incurred in the future and an ideal nutrient level will be achieved. At the end, the whole potential of each field can be exploited in the context of nutrient supply and yield. To sum it up, the paper demonstrates maximum allowable costs of a detailed / small-scale soil analysis. This is compared with negative effects of a constant-rate-fertilization.